Friday, September 10, 2004

Celebrity Medical News: John Ritter's family is suing the hospital that treated him:

The suit, brought by Ritter's widow, actress Amy Yasbeck, and his four children, alleges that doctors initially misdiagnosed Ritter's condition as a heart attack. It seeks unspecified damages against the hospital and its medical staff.

'Mr. Ritter's doctors, failed to properly and timely diagnose and treat an aortic aneurysm, which would have prevented his death,' said Yasbeck's spokeswoman, Lisa Kasteler, in a statement.

This is a good example of the difficulties doctors face in making the correct diagnosis sometimes. Aneurysms of the thoracic aorta present just like heart attacks. It's almost impossible to tell the difference, unless you're lucky enough to see the aneurysm on a chest x-ray:

No single criterion or group of criteria clearly distinguishes TAD (thoracic aortic dissection -ed.) from AMI (acute myocardial infarction, or heart attack - ed). Physicians must rely on varying their level of clinical suspicion based on findings in the history, physical examination, and clinical tests.

Was it malpractice? I don't think so. He was just unfortunate enough to have a fatal condition that doesn't pronounce itself clearly and unambiguously.